War of the End
by SS-Snake
Summary: The fates grow restless. Things grow stagnant. A time of change has been invoked that will alter the world forever. Will Naruto and company be able to survive this time?


Ok some things first

Disclaimer: I dont own the Naruto anime/manga. I dont claim to. I wish i did, but Kishimoto beat me to it.

Ok now that that's done: Enjoy

She lay on her bed for what seemed like days. Nothing could stop the tears that flowed down her cheeks. All she could think about was he, the boy who had stolen her heart, then thrown it back at her like a discarded rag. But still she loved him, though she understood not why.

_Bring him back please... Just don't let anything happen to him...Naruto_

Sakura waited for a whole day before a knock came to the door.

"Sakura!" called her mother, "Kakashi-sensei is here to see you!"

Sakura's eyes snapped open. Jumping out of her bed, she ran down the hall, the tears still wet on her cheeks. She barreled down the stairs and to the front door where Kakashi stood waiting.

_Everything will be ok... Everything will be fine...he's waiting for me now, in the hospital. Naruto brought him back..._

"Sensei! Where is he?"

Kakashi said nothing for a minute, then slowly turned to look at Sakura. She stopped, frozen in place. Kakashi's face betrayed him and told her that everything was not ok.

"I'm sorry Sakura...He got away."

"Wha..."

"Naruto fought to bring him back, but it wasn't enough" Kakashi said, as if delivering a death notice to survivors of soldiers.

Sakura took a step back, gazing at Kakashi in abject horror. She turned and fled for her room, seeking the safety of its walls. Sakura's mother started as if to go stop her, but Kakashi held her back. He only shook his head, as if to say, "there's nothing you can do."

She slammed her door and stood in her room thinking. The bright day outside, shown brightly, as if to mock her. She closed the blinds and curled up in a tight ball on her bed.

_This isn't happening...it isn't real. It's all just a horrible dream...I have to wake up... Come on Sakura! Wake up! Why aren't I waking up? This can't happen...why to me? Why did he leave? I don't understand...I just want to curl up and die...That's it, Ill just lay here and wait for him...He'll come back for me eventually. Sasuke, come back to me._

Sleep claimed her. She slept for two days, letting herself drift in the dream world. In her dream, time passed. She stood on a ledge floating in an infinite abyss. She looked around desperately seeking something familiar. Off in the distance, on a similar ledge, Sasuke stood his back to her. "Sasuke!" she called. When he failed to answer, she called to him again, louder. He began to walk away from her. When he reached the edge of his ledge he simply walked off, and fell in to the murky, cloudy abyss. She screamed, and sat up in her bed.

It was all a dream.

Then the reality of the world struck her like a freight train. Sasuke was gone, left forever on a mad quest for power. He would never come back now. He was Orochimaru now, and he would corrupt his soul, until there was nothing left of him but a puppet.

_Why didn't Naruto bring him back? Naruto!_

Having remembered the boy she ran out of her room and down the stairs, not even bothering to fix her hair before she left. She had to find Naruto and find out what happened.

Naruto lay dying. His body slashed all over and his chest pouring out blood from where the chidori pierced through his chest. He contemplated his fate, knowing that he would die here of all places. The border was supposed to represent peace. An agreement between two nations to stop fighting and settle their disputes peacefully. Yet here he lay, die from a wound delivered to him by his best friend, of all people. He was a victim of a power struggle started even before his existence. And now, in the end, it was his own friend that was his killer. A fitting end for a person everyone hated.

_Sasuke, you bastard, you let him win._

He closed his eyes and began to think of all the things left undone. He'd never become Hokage now. He'd never tell Sakura-chan how he felt. He'd never get to surpass everyone and have everyone acknowledge him. So much to do. All he wanted to do now was sleep. It would be so easy for him to just stop here and let death claim him, to give up and end it all. Except for that red light. If only it would go out he could hurry up and die. It called to him, familiar and powerful, yet distant.

The nine-tails!

"Are you going to give up so easily?"

_What? Why do you care, just let me die._

"No, our lives are bound and if I am to escape, I cannot let that happen. I COMMAND YOU NOW, BOY, LIVE!"

Chakra flowed throughout Naruto's body, filling him with life energy. His wounds began to seal shut, the flesh knitting itself together, the bones fusing, and the organs reforming. The red, life-giving energy infused his body and re-grew everything anew. It felt as if he was born again. Naruto sat up. A shadow hung over him.

"It looks like I didn't need to do anything."

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!!"

"I wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway, even if I had arrived a few seconds earlier."

Naruto got up and brushed the dirt from his blood soaked clothes. Then he remembered. Sasuke had escaped.

"Well, he got away..." said Kakashi, a sad tone gracing his voice.

"Damn it, if only I was a little stronger, I could have stopped him..." Naruto's voice trailed off.

"Naruto. There was nothing you could have done. Its ok, you did everything you could have done"

"No, sensei it isn't ok, now he's gone and he'll never come back."

"Naruto, lets go and tell the Hokage about this, so we can start negotiations to have an ANBU squad sent in to retrieve him."

"Right!"

Days later...

Sakura ran down the streets looking desperately for Naruto. She checked all of the usual places, but he was nowhere to be found. Disheartened, and tired from searching, she decided to go to the fountain and sit. As she walked into the central plaza, she spotted Naruto sitting on the very fountain she was going to rest on. She stopped and stood motionless.

_What will I ask him?_

She had thought about it the whole time during her search, but now, just as she found him, the words escaped her. Fortunately, Naruto looked up and spotted her staring at him. He got up solemnly and began to approach her. He knew he had failed to keep his promise, and she knew it grated against every bone in his entire body to think that he hadn't been able to keep it. As much as she tried to stop them the tears came.

It hurt Naruto to see those tears. More than anything, he hated to see Sakura cry. And on top of that, it was all his fault.

_She hates me...I hate me...everyone hates me. But I have to talk to her; I have to tell her that I'm sorry. I can't run from this._

_Why Sasuke, why did you leave me...I thought you loved me._

_She hates me, its all my fault..._

_Why Sasuke..._

"Sakura."

"Naruto."

"I..I'm sorry."

"It's all my fault, if only I was stronger...I..." Naruto said, as he turned away, tears welling up in eyes.

_He blames himself?_

"N..Naruto, I..It wasn't your fault..."

"Wha...?"

"I worked myself up so bad over him...I wanted to believe so badly that he loved me...I made myself believe it. But I was only lying to myself...Naruto he's lost now..." she said wiping the tears from her eyes. "You tried to get him for me...but its ok if you couldn't keep my promise, because I know that even if you brought him back, it wouldn't change anything...he would just run away again, and even if you brought him back again, and locked him up, he would still try and escape...No, Naruto I wont, no I cant hold it against you for not bringing him back, because he doesn't love me, and he never will..."

"S..Sakura-chan..."

"Its ok Naruto, I'm done being sad..."

"Well, Sakura-chan I'm glad your feeling much better" Naruto said, a stupid grin plastered on his face.

The air grew thick, and the pressure rose. Naruto and Sakura covered their ears as if to stop the pressure, but to no avail. The pressure grew, they may have screamed, if so no one cared because of the intense pain. Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

Alone in the square, stood one man. He was covered from the waist up in bright red armor, his upper arms left uncovered, and red bracers about his forearms. His thighs were covered on the sides, from plates extending from his chest plate. His legs were covered in a light loose fitting pants that seemed a shade of black so dark, it would make the dark of night seem bright. For his leg armor, aside from the thigh guards, he wore only shin guards that ran up to just below his knee. But his helmet was the most striking feature of him. It looked as if it were made of two pieces. The upper piece was a set of dark goggles attached to a red helm that extended down to cover the back of his neck. From the top extended two sharp hors that started to go back, but looked as if they had been bent to form forwards. The other piece to the helmet looked like some hellish breathing apparatus, consisting of 2 relatively flat canisters, protruding from the piece covering his cheeks. The center then extended up over his nose and formed an oblique angle with the other half, was riddled with holes, probably for exhaling the breathed gas. On his back, he bore a huge sword extending almost to the ground in length.

The man stood and surveyed his surroundings, his feature masked by the alien helmet. Naruto and Sakura stood like numbed fools, staring at the man in disbelief, who as if by magic, appeared in the town square.

"I don't know who you are, but that's far enough." Said a familiar voice.

The stunned Naruto and Sakura turned in unison to see none other than Hatake Kakashi, standing at the edge of the plaza.

"Sensei!" shouted Sakura in disbelief.

"Naruto. Sakura. Get away from here. This man is very powerful, and I fear he might a danger to us. Why are you here in Konoha?" Kakashi said, his last sentence directed towards the man in red.

"I am here," Said the man, reaching for his sword. "To test my mettle!"

With those words the man drew his sword with lightning speed and hurled it, spinning like a frisbee at Kakashi. Kakashi tried to dive from the sword's path, but the blade changed direction, and intercepted him. The spinning blade cleft Kakashi in two, and sped away scattering villagers in its wake. The pieces of the Jounin fell and dissipated into smoke leaving two halves of a watermelon from a merchant's stand to splatter on the ground.

From the left of the man Kakashi attacked with two strong kicks, both of which were blocked by a single arm of the man in red. Kakashi tried for a third kick, but the man was too fast and caught him but the ankle. He swung the Jounin around and, using Kakashi's momentum against him, threw him into the side of building. He crashed violently, stunned for a moment. A moment was all the man needed and, moving faster than eyes could follow, delivered a punishing blow to his gut. The man in red stepped back and looked down at the struggling Kakashi.

"Is this all I get against the legendary Copy Ninja?" said the red man.

"No, I have much more" said Kakashi

Kakashi's hand burst through the man's back and out his chest, the Chidori chirping violently in his palm. The beaten Kakashi burst into a cloud of smoke, the jutsu having been dispelled.

"Kage Bunshin? How clever." replied the man flatly.

"What?"

The man turned with his left hand to backhandedly stiff-arm the Jounin warrior. Kakashi withdrew his arm from the man's chest, lest it be broken by his turn. Kakashi raised both arms in an attempt to block the man's swing. But even as he did, the force transferred through the block and knocked Kakashi to the ground, five feet way.

_What strength!_

Kakashi began to lift the headband covering his Sharingan eye, knowing that he would lose if he didn't.

"Ah, the legendary Sharingan. I somehow knew it would come to this."

The man reached for the place on his helmet, where the goggles touched the nose guard, the divider between the two halves of his strange helmet. The man removed his helmet and breathing apparatus, using both hands simultaneously. His eyes were a bright, piercing, sky blue and his hair was a magnificent pure blonde. His hair was spiked wildly out from his head. Kakashi's eyes grew wide with recognition.

"Yondaime!"

"Ha, I knew you would think so, but I am not he."

A grin split the man's handsome face.

"Kakashi, lets see how you battle your own technique."

The man's eyes grew dark and began to take on a red color. Out of the red, grew 3 distinct, teardrop shaped pupils.

"The Sharingan?!" gasped Kakashi.

"Yes, the legendary Sharingan. Let's see how you fight me now, Hatake Kakashi."

"What's going on sensei?" called Naruto from across the plaza.

"I told you guys to leave! Run! Hurry!"

"Sensei who is he?"

"Konoha Gouriki Senpuu!"

A violent surprise attack sent the Yondaime look-alike whirling into a trinket stand poised on the edge of the plaza. Where the man had stood, now stood another man dressed from the neck down in green.

"Ah and who could forget, the Beautiful Green Beast of the Leaf, Maito Gai?" Said the man standing from the ruins of the violent spinning kick.

"So I see you know who I am? But the real question is...Who are you?"

"Behind you" Replied the man.

Gai whirled around just in time to duck the giant sword that returned to cut him down. The sword turned in its course and flew directly at the man in red. He made no motion to dodge it and simply caught the sword, and returned it to his back.

"I wanted to test my meddle against the highly acclaimed Copy Ninja, with my Sharingan versus his. But seeing as that is now impossible, this fight is over." Stated the man. "I have no desire to kill either of you. Hence why you aren't dead."

"What do you mean?" said the rising Kakashi.

"I mean, that I no longer am, and never was, your enemy."

"What?"

"That's right. I told you I only wanted to test your meddle. As of now, I wish to join this village and become a shinobi of the leaf."


End file.
